A Missouri couple said they learned their dream house was once used as a meth lab — after their fetus tested positive for amphetamines.
Elisha Hessel said she was stunned by the results of her recent routine blood test, which found traces of drugs in her and her unborn baby’s system.
“When they called me, I didn’t know what that meant,” Hessel told KSDK-TV in an article published Monday. “So, I asked the nurse if that meant like, drugs in general. She basically just said ‘yes’ and asked me if I could explain that.”
Neither Hessel nor her husband, Tyler, had ever been around meth, she said.
After speaking to neighbors, the couple discovered the four-bedroom Jefferson County home they bought six years ago was to blame.
The soon-to-be parents tested the house and found dangerous amounts of the amphetamines present, they said.
The couple even found their address on Jefferson County’s list of 2013 meth lab seizures. Authorities found meth-making supplies there that year after receiving a tip about a lab there, according to a police report obtained by the station.
But Jefferson County Undersheriff Timothy Whitney said there was no evidence to “suggest that distribution or manufacturing was going on” at the property so it was never tested for amphetamine contamination.
In Missouri, a seller who knows a home was once used as a drug lab is required to reveal that to prospective buyers — but nobody told that to the Hessels, they said.
An expert told the couple it would cost about $100,000 to clean up the home, an estimate that includes replacing drywall, duct work and the HVAC system.
“Everybody wants to have their own home when they bring their baby home,” said Hessel. “A lot of it’s the disappointment and being upset over it, but I have definitely been angry over it as well.”



